I laid me down upon a bank

by William Blake

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Blake's manuscript: "I laid me down upon a bank..."

1st reading:^[1]

(Edited text)

* * *

I laid me down upon a bank
Where love lay sleeping.
I heard among the rushes dank
Weeping, Weeping.

5Then I went to the heath & the wild
To the thistles & thorns of the waste
And they told me how they were beguil'd
Driven out, & compeld to be chaste.

2nd reading:^[2]

(The original text)

* * *

I laid me down upon a bank
Where love lay sleeping
I heard among the rushes dank
Weeping Weeping

5Then I went to the heath & the wild
To the thistles & thorns of the waste
And they told me how they were beguild
Driven out & compeld to be chaste

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Notes

1. "Blake Complete Writings", ed. Geoffrey Keynes, pub. OUP 1966/85, p. 162.
2. "The Complete Poetry & Prose of William Blake", ed. by David V. Erdman, Anchor Books, 1988, p. 468.